Healing Flames
by britanic
Summary: After being killed in a battle, Domino is reborn in one of the Elemental nations.  Please Read & Review. Just say no to Flaming and Trolling.
1. Chapter 1 Beginners Luck

Beginners Luck

CH. 1

Prologue:

In a dark room is a lone woman crying as she sits at a table clutching a bottle in her right hand.

_"She's gone… I can't believe she's really gone,"_ thought the woman as she chugged down more of the booze from the bottle. _"Why did my godson have to be taken as well?"_

The woman finished the bottle and then shattered it against the far wall. A blinding light suddenly appeared in front of her as she was about to stand up to fetch another bottle. As the light slowly dimmed, the crying woman noticed that the light was taking the form of a blond haired blue-eyed short woman with fox ears wearing a white Kimono with a red obi.

"Who are you and what do you want?" demanded the crying woman with a start, as she stood up.

"Sit down Tsunade," the woman said with such authority that Tsunade did just that. "I am Inari (AN: one of the Shinto Kami)… so shut up, I have much to tell you. A fire Kami has approached me from another world and she wanted help to fix a mistake she had made. In her wrath, she had accidently struck down a mortal and the fire Kami wanted to give the mortal a chance for a new life in my realm. As I was agreeing to her request, the Shichifukujin noticed her, fell in love with her, and have become her… heh… Godparents…"

"If I may ask, but which of the seven Kamis of luck was it?"

"All of them… Some of them even gave her their blessings. Who and what was given … well… I think I'll let you figure that out for yourself," said Inari. "I wouldn't be surprised if the others may change their minds and give their blessings as well, but I doubt that they would let anybody know if they did."

"So why have you visited me," Tsunade asked as politely as she could.

"I noticed that you were in mourning for lost family members and I want to give you a blessing as well…"

"Really…" Tsunade whispered as she looked around for a gift of some kind.

"Really…" Inari replied as she motioned with her hand at a bundle of cloth that was lying in a basket that was suddenly sitting on the table. "I am giving you a daughter, Tsunade… raise her well for not only will I be expecting much from you, but the Kamis of both worlds are watching you," Inari warned as she disappeared.

Tsunade stood up and peered into the basket to see a small baby wrapped in swaddling clothes sucking its thumb. As Tsunade examines her, she notices that the baby has very pale skin and that she has a prominent black spot, which is encircling her left eye. Tsunade saw and began to feel the baby's small tuft of black hair.

"Heh… I think my obaasan would find you to be a cute baby… hmm… I think I'm going to name you after her… Mito… yeah, she'd be honored that I named you after her."

After checking Mito's omutsu, Tsunade staggered to bed.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

The blinding light of the morning sun pours thru the motel room window. In the distance, she can hear the sound of waves and the beating of a drum. Is this paradise? No, it isn't paradise, just another hung over morning for Tsunade.

_"Why is the sunlight so loud this morning?" _Tsunade thought as she started to regain consciousness. Slowly she sat up in bed and saw Shizune sitting at the room's table, feeding a baby with a bottle. "Who is that and why is that brat in my room?"

"Good morning, Lady Tsunade," Shizune said in a hushed tone, "I was feeding the daughter that Kami had given you last night. Kami too visited me and she suggested that I help you care for your daughter. This is a good thing since you were in no condition to care for the baby last night."

_~FLASHBACK~_

_ Shizune is packing her scrolls to prepare to leave the motel in the morning, when a bright light suddenly appeared in her room before coalescing into the shape of a__ blond haired blue-eyed short woman with fox ears wearing a white Kimono with a red obi._

_ "Who are you," Shizune said in a frightened voice._

_ "I am Inari, a Kami, and I have come to tell you that your sensei has been given a chance to redeem herself… I have given her a daughter. I want you to help care for her… go… Tsunade is in no condition to take care of the child right now," she said as she disappeared._

_ Shizune lowered her head and pondered the responsibility that Kami had just given her._

_ "Typical," Shizune mumbled to herself._

_~End FLASHBACK~_

As the memories of the previous night slowly seeped into her brain, Tsunade got up with a grunt and walked over to sit at the table to the right of Shizune.

"It really happened then… Well, I named her Mito after my obaasan. I think she would be a good opportunity for you to grow as a Kunoichi. I want you to take care of Mito and train her as well," she said as she stood up. "Don't worry; I'll assist you when I can. Well… hurry up, finish, and get ready to leave, while I go find a victim… ahem… someone lucky enough to loan me some money and we'll leave this place in the dust," Tsunade said as she left the room.

"I guess, it's just you and me kid," Shizune said as she looked down at Mito, as she suckled from the bottle.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

_~Time skip, 5 years later~_

"Okaasan…" a slender little girl with black short hair (wearing a grey short-sleeved shirt with black cargo shorts) called out as she came running up from behind Tsunade as she was walking to the casino.

"Mito… where is Shizune and why are you not with her training."

"I'm tired of running up and down trees, or floating leaves on my hands and feet. You said I could be with you today," Mito said with a sad puppy look on her face.

"I did, did I? Well, stay out of the way, I'm going to try to win some money."

"Good luck with that," Mito said under her breath.

"What did you say," Tsunade demanded as she glared at Mito.

"Nothing… I was merely wishing you good luck. So that you would win lots of money," Mito said with an angelic look on her face.

"Yeah right…" Tsunade said, as she stomped her way to the casino with Mito tagging along behind her.

Eventually, they walked to a small dingy little building. People of all sorts were either hanging out outside of the building, or going in and out of it. Some of the people noticed Tsunade and her daughter, but they only greeted Mito.

"Oi, Aiko-chan… how are you doing?" called out a little old man who always sat by the casino entrance. (AN: Mito goes by Aiko when she is in public, it's a nickname. It means love child or little loved one. People who somewhat know Tsunade still wonder who is Mito's Father.)

"Oh… I'm fine oji-san," Mito said with a bow. "I'm sorry, but I can't talk right now," she said with a small wave as she rushed to catch up with Tsunade.

When Mito finally caught up with Tsunade, she was already sitting at a table playing a game of cards.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Mito whispered in Tsunade's ear as she was about to exchange some cards.

"Nani?" (AN: She doesn't realize that Mito has been paying attention to the rules of the game since she first started tagging along with Tsunade into casinos.)

"I would exchange this one instead," she whispered as she pointed to one of the cards in Tsunade's hand.

"Oi… who's playing this game anyways?" the Dealer asked as Tsunade thought about Mito's suggestion.

"Shut up… I'm her Sensei," Tsunade barked at the dealer. _"Well, it wouldn't hurt to try her suggestion," _she thought as she laid down that particular card and asked for another.

After that, everyone took their turn and placed their bets. Then it was the decisive moment, as every started to reveal their hand.

"Nani…" the dealer said in hushed tones as Tsunade revealed her hand.

Tsunade just sat there as she waited for the winner to pick up his winnings, but nobody did all of the other players just sat there and scowled at her.

"Okaasan… pick up the money… you won," Mito says as she bumps Tsunade's side with her elbow.

"Nani?" the bewildered Tsunade says with wide eyes.

"I cannot believe I'm saying this… but… you won," the Dealer said with a smirk.

"You're coming with me from now on when I play cards," Tsunade whispers to Mito as she gathers her winnings. "Yes… I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship," she says as she hands Mito some money.


	2. Chapter 2 Unexpected Visitors

I do not own any of the characters in this story, nor this world where this story resides. Warning this chapter contains some graphic elements… This will be your only warning.

Unexpected Visitors

Ch 2

It's been quite the year for Tsunade and for many of the casinos that she and Mito have been visiting. Tsunade has been going from casino to casino, due to their remarkable winning streak. She has been doing this because they have not only been chased out of the casinos for winning so much money (the casinos suspect cheating, but they have no evidence of cheating.), but also for safety reasons (some of the people they have beaten are not good losers.). It's late in the morning when our plucky trio arrives at their next motel.

"Go check in and be sure to check out the room first… I don't want any surprises like last time," Tsunade reminded.

"Hey, how was I to know that that last loser had an ototo who worked there?"

"Yeah, okasan how would neechan know that man was outside of the motel hot springs waiting for you to take your bath?" Mito argued.

"… The banner that they had up at the entrance should have been our first clue… 'Town welcomes Tsunadesama'… bah… I hate peepers, but selling tickets for the opportunity to peep at me as if I was a movie… well… that was the last straw," Tsunade bellowed.

"Well, at least we were able find and convince Jiraiya (he was one of the ticket holders) to place the seals we wanted on Mito," consoled Shizune.

"Yeah… put them on her or die… that's a hard argument to counter," added Mito.

_~FLASHBACK~_

_ In the motel room, Jiraiya is placing seals on both of Mito's palms, while Tsunade watches._

_ "Thank you for your help __otôsan," Mito said, "I thought I would never meet you."_

_ Jiraiya continues his work in stunned silence._

_ "What makes you think __he__ is your otôsan," Tsunade growls._

_ "Well… that's what everyone thinks and I think that's why you are so angry with him… for leaving you while you were with child," Mito innocently replies with an angelic look on her face._

_ "Maji?" Tsunade mumbles as she sweat drops._

_ "I'm happy to be of help musume," Jiraiya whispers as he hesitantly looks over for Tsunade's reaction (AN: In private, Tsunade already told him the truth, before he started on the seals and he doesn't want to hurt Mito's feelings.)._

_ "Whatever," Tsunade mumbles as she stomps out of the room._

_ "Musume, you're going to be the death of me," Jiraiya chuckles. "What do you need these seals for anyways?"_

_ "Shizune thought I should get them to be able to get to my senbon needles and kunais faster," replied Mito._

_ "Keep this up and you'll end up just like your okasan."_

_ "Oh, you say the sweetest things __otôsan," Mito whispers while batting her eyes._

_~END FLASHBACK~_

"Ah…good times," Mito thought with a sigh, as she ignored Tsunade berating Shizune.

"Just check the room," Tsunade warned as she was walking away, "I'm going to check the nearest bar for alcohol bottling violations."

"Mito, go practice your water walking, while I go check out the room," Shizune said while pointing to a nearby pond.

"Yes, Neechan," Mito said as she ran towards the pond.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

As Tsunade sits at a table sipping some Saki (she's been trying to cut back, since Mito has come into her life.), she ponders her streak of good luck.

_"Things have been going too good for too long_," Tsunade frets, _"Something really bad is about to happen, but what and when?"_

A little boy runs up to Tsunade, hands her a note, and runs away before she can ask who sent the note. Tsunade's heart seems to stop as she reads:

"You stole something precious to me.

I think I will return the favor."

Tsunade was gone before the note hit the floor. Tsunade shushined to the motel and found Shizune haggling over the price of the two rooms with the owner (Shizune and Mito share a room.).

"Shizune… where is Mito?" Tsunade demands in a frightened tone.

"I left her at the pond to practice her water walking…"

Before Shizune could say another word, Tsunade grabbed Shizune, and shushined to the pond.

When they arrive at the pond, what they immediately notice is the blood all around Mito who is lying on the ground, what they notice next is a distracted half naked man lying on top of her, with his back to them.

What the town will remember of this very moment is the sound of a man screaming. What Shizune will forever remember is Tsunade's expression as she snaps.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ (**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

It's dark when Jiraiya arrives to the motel that night. He received word of the incident thru his spy network, and he rushed right over. His hand is shaking as he knocks on the room's door. Shizune answers the door.

"Where is she?" Jiraiya asked in a hushed tone. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No… thank you for asking … She is in the bedroom (the owner upgraded their room to a suite for free) with Tsunade. Mito is in some sort of self-induced healing coma and Tsunade has not left her side.

"Where is he?" Jiraiya asked with a grimace.

"He's dead."

"Just dead… she must have taken it better than I heard."

"No, she didn't… when we found them… Tsunade just snapped… she crucified him to a nearby tree and force fed him his… parts. I never seen her so enraged before. She just kept healing his body and forcing him to grow a new pair, then she cut those off and force fed him again. She kept it up until he finally choked to death on his own body parts, and vomit."

Jiraiya just looked at Shizune and nodded, and then he went to check on Mito and Tsunade.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ (**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

As Jiraiya enters the room, he notices that the room is dark; the only light in the room is an eerie light emanating from Mito. An unnatural fire is seen flickering on various parts of her body, seemingly healing it as it passes over the injuries. Jiraiya walks up behind Tsunade and hears her whispering something over and over again.

"Don't leave me," Tsunade whispers to Mito.

Jiraiya places his hand on her shoulder and lets her rest her cheek on it. They just stay there like that for a moment looking at Mito.

"How bad are her injuries," Jiraiya asked with concern.

"They could have been worse, if we hadn't got there in time…,"

"You mean?"

"Yes… it could have been much worse… now all I have to try to explain to her, if she asks, is why the baka ka was trying to kill her."

"Who was he?"

"Just some loser who lost his sword to us in a card game… the loser kept referring to it as 'his precious' throughout the whole game. I should have realized that he was a loon."

"It's not your fault hime," Jiraiya said as he turned her around to face him.

"I know it isn't... here (she points to her head)… but I'm still blaming myself … here (she points to her heart), Tsunade sobs as she stands up.

Jiraiya doesn't say anything as he draws her into his arms and allows her to cry into his shoulder.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ (**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Mito opens her eyes and finds herself in a prairie. She looks up and sees the bluest sky she has ever seen filled with the whitest fluffy clouds.

_"How did I get here, and where am I,"_ Mito thought as she surveys her environment.

"This is deep within your mind," a female voice said from behind her.

Mito quickly turned around to see a short female girl with hair of flames wearing a white kimono with a sparkling gold obi.

"Who are you?" Mito gasped.

"You may call me Akane."

"Where am I again?"

"Please sit down, we have much to go over," Akane asked as she motioned to the ground.

"Ok, but don't take too long, I have to find out where I am so I can get back to my Okasan," Mito replied as she sat down in a crossed leg position.

"First, we are deep within your mind, and I am here because you are like the Jinchuuriki of this world and I am sort of like the Bijuu."

"I've heard of them. People speak of them when they are drunk and think that nobody is listening. Since I'm a little kid, nobody pays any attention to me, so they tend to say more than they would around some other adult stranger."

"Well… like I said we're like those two… but not exactly. You are actually from another world and the Bennu in that world accidently killed you and when she repented her mistake, she decided to give you another chance in this world."

"Bennu… what's that?"

"The Bennu is the other world's version of this world's Houou. They look very much alike, but their powers are vastly different."

"Oh."

"So when she left you here, she left a piece of herself inside of you to be your guardian."

"…and that's you?"

"Yes… and that's me," Akane said as she began to glow and float in the air, "I look like a child the same age as you for a reason. It's because I will grow as you grow…this is so you will not become over whelmed with your potential power, and don't ask me what those powers will be because they are different for each person. It all depends on the person's energies."

"Oh… ok… I was wondering how you could be a portion of this other world's Kami when you look like you do. So what's going on? Why am I here?"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"Well… I remember water walking and then suddenly I was carried off the pond by a stranger… than I remember… a lot of pain… than I woke up here. Everything happened so fast, it's like the world was a giant blur and full of pain."

"You were viciously attacked by a deranged stranger and you would have been killed if it wasn't for your Okasan saving your life. After you were attacked, I awakened to heal you. Don't worry; I will never leave you, nor can I be taken from you. It would take Bennu herself to remove me from you."

"So what is going to happen now?"

"Oh you are nearly healed from your injuries, your Okasan helped a great deal, and stopped what she was doing when she noticed that you were healing yourself… she did not want to interfere with your healing process, since she didn't understand what was going on. You see, because I reside within you, you have a quite remarkable regenerative healing factor. As you get older you will be an ideal candidate to be a medic, because you will be able to share in a way, your healing energies."

"Huh?"

"Don't worry. You don't have to learn everything right now; we will talk again. So relax… because you are about to wake up."

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ (**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"Mito, can you speak? How are you feeling?" Tsunade asked as Mito was beginning to regain consciousness.

Mito opened her eyes and saw Tsunade and Jiraiya hovering over her bed as if they were waiting for her to lay an egg or something.

"I'm fine guys… back up… both of you haven't been paying a lot of attention to hygiene lately, and your breath stinks," Mito sarcastically said while waving her hand in front of her nose.

"Oh, I think she is starting to be a lot better, hime," Jiraiya chuckled.

"Hime, why are you calling her that?" asked Mito.

"Oh, that's an old family nickname… don't think about it," Tsunade said as she tried to change the subject, "I better get Shizune in her while I go get some sleep." Tsunade got up, and Jiraiya followed her out of the room. Moments later, Shizune came in to help her get ready for bed.

"Neechan… do you know what happened with that sword okasan won for me?" Mito asked, as she was getting ready for bed.

"Oh… I have it in one of my storage scrolls … why do you ask?"

"I just wanted to check it out."

"Oh no you don't… you're not ready for any Kenjutsu lessons yet, and you're still weak from your injuries," Shizune said as she tucked Mito into bed.

"Come on… just let me look at it."

"No… you'll get a chance soon enough… go to sleep," Shizune said as she walked over, turned off the light and left the room.

"I'll get you yet my pretty…"Mito mumbled as she went to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3 Inner Rage

I do not own any of the characters in this story, nor this world where this story resides.

_Thoughts_

_(Authors notes)_

_**Thoughts of Demon/Inner Sakura**_

**Demon/Inner Sakura speaks**

Inner Rage

Ch 3

_~Time skip, 6 years later~_

Two females are walking down a dirt road that leads to Konohagakure. The older of the two saw the younger one playing with her back pack strap for the third time in the last 2 minutes.

"Stop fidgeting, why are you so nervous?

"Do you think that I am ready?

"Yes."

"But…"

"Yes, you are… You know more than many your age."

"But…"

"But, what?"

"Will Hiruzen Sarutobi-sama, the Sandaime Hokage accept me, even though I have not been thru Konoha's academy?" The younger asked the elder female.

"Do not worry so much. Your letter from your okasan will be enough to explain everything he needs to know. Trust her," The elder female said to reassure the younger female.

"I do. I know her, but I don't know him."

"Well, soon you will."

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

The street is empty of everyone but a few passersby. As Sakura walks, she is lost in her own thoughts.

_"Sasukekun will never notice me while I am this weak,"_ Sakura thought as she stopped in front of a tree. _"What do I have to do to get stronger," _Sakura thinks as she punches the tree.

Just then, a passageway opens on the side of the tree.

_"What's this?" _Sakura looks thru the opening and seesa stairway go below the ground. Sakura looks around, seeing nobody else around, decides to explore the passageway herself. The door way closes behind her. The passage way is dim, but not so dark to make it impossible to see. At the bottom of the stairs, a room is revealed. As she looks around, Sakura notices that the room's illumination seems to be coming from the recessed skylights in the ceiling.

"_Someone sure made sure to keep this place secret,"_ Sakura thought, as she continued to look around.

In the room, there are a number of shackles attached to the walls. There is what looks to be an examining table in the center of the room. It's obvious that nobody has been in the room for a long time. Sakura explores the room and finds nothing of value, until she spots something lying on the floor in the corner of the room. She walks over and picks up what appears to be the remains of a scroll, a scroll locked with a weird type of seal. The very bottom had been burned away, but the seal appeared unharmed. It looks as if it was to be destroyed in a nearby barrel but had been blown out by the fire's updraft before being consumed.

_"If I remember my history lessons, this is probably one of Orochimaru's hidden labs," _Sakura thought as she examined the remains of the scroll, _"If it is … this partial scroll is probably his as well…"_

As she starts to break the wax seal, the seal suddenly forms a wax serpent's head and bites her thumb.

"_What the hell…?" _Sakura thinks as she rubs her sore thumb and drops the now opened scroll_._ She looks at her thumb as the throbbing lessens and the bite mark slowly disappears. _"I wonder what that was about."_ She wonders as she picks up the scroll and opens it up fully to examine it. She reads the writing on the scroll, and discovers that it is the instructions for a jutsu that Orochimaru might have been working on, before abandoning this particular lab.

_"Looks like some kind of weird chakra boosting jutsu… I think this might come in handy,"_ Sakura thought as she pocketed the scroll fragment and made her way out of the lab. _"It might come in handy indeed."_

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"Can anyone see the target," Kakashi asked, "Team 7 report."

"No," Naruto, then Sasuke replied.

"I think I see movement on the roof of the building near the alley," replied Sakura.

"Wait for us to get in a better position to assist," replied Naruto.

_"Why wait for them," _inner Sakura said_, "If you can't do it yourself, how are you ever going to impress Sasuke?"_ Sakura saw the target jump from the roof of one building to another before jumping to a lower window sill. Unfortunately, she was on the roof of a building that was too far away. Someone empties a pot of water out of the window and scares the target into a dead-end alley.

_"If I don't get there in a hurry, the target will get away…" thought Sakura, "No time like the present to use that jutsu."_

After Sakura's hands goes thru a flurry of motions, she feels a surge of energy go thru her body. As Sakura's hair slowly starts to rise up from the static electricity that is starting to form in her hair, she can see her hands slowly begin to shake with the buildup of energy.

"_Boy, what's going on?" Sakura thinks, "it's like a bolt of lightning has flown up my butt."_

Sakura looks across the street, sees the target near the far end of the alley, and decides to engage the target alone.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

As Naruto and Sasuke run from roof to roof to get in better positions, Sasuke notices something going on on the roof where Sakura is located.

"Dobe, Are you catching what is going on where Sakura is located?" Sasuke asked Naruto.

"Yes, Teme, There's some kind of weird light show that's starting up."

Just then, a glowing Sakura is seen on the edge of the roof looking down towards the alley. She jumps off the roof, lands on the street and runs into the alley.

"Teme, you take the high road, cut off the target's ability to retreat, I'll take the low road, and we'll meet Sakura in the middle," Naruto replied to Sasuke, before Naruto went down into the end of the alley and ran to meet Sakura in the middle. By the time he got there, Sakura was IDing and bagging the Target.

"**I got cat**," Sakura blurted as she turned to Naruto; "**me did**."

"Kakashi-Sensei, you better get down here, something is wrong with Sakura-chan," Naruto replied as he noticed Sakura glowing brighter and brighter.

"What's wrong with me…?" Sakura asked as she was looking at her hands before passing out with a popping sound. Sakura fell to the ground losing consciousness and her weird glow at the same time.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

In the Hospital, Sandaime Hokage and Kakashi meet in the room next to Sakura's to a conversation regarding Sakura.

Sarutobi motioned for the hospital staff to leave the room, after they had left he turned to face Kakashi.

"What I am about to say is to be treated as an S-class secret… After debriefing Sakura and reading your report, I had Sakura's mind wiped," the Hokage stated as he looked out the window.

"Her mind wiped?" Kakashi asked.

"Somehow she got a hold of a forbidden jutsu… _Idiot tried to use a unknown jutsu. Good thing I found that partial scroll still on her person and destroyed it… _Unfortunately, for her, it was forbidden for a reason. She will retain all of her memories but she will remember nothing about that jutsu… how to do it… how it felt to use it… nothing. She damaged her chakra coils… the medics still don't understand what she did to herself, but her coils will be blocked until we figure out a way to repair them."

"How will I explain her behavior to her and her team?"

"You will tell them that she was training on her own, got overzealous, and somehow over whelmed her chakra coils. Tomorrow morning I want you to come to my office so we can decide who will replace Sakura on team 7," the Hokage said before shushining away.

_"Replace Sakura…?"_ Kakashi thought as he stood in the doorway of Sakura's hospital room looking at her, as she lay unconscious.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"I'm here to see the Hokage-sama," Kakashi told the secretary.

The secretary merely nodded and waved Kakashi in. Kakashi walked into the Hokage's office to see him sitting at his desk which was covered with his ever present paperwork. The Hokage appeared to be busy reading a letter. Kakashi stood, waiting patiently for his presence to be noted.

_"Hmm, He hasn't lost his patience I see…," _the third thought as he purposely kept Kakashi waiting.

_"He knows I'm here… he's waiting to see who will speak first,"_ noted Kakashi, when he spotted a faint eye smile quickly appear then disappear on the Hokage's face.

The stalemate was broken when the secretary popped her head in and reminded the Hokage of the council meeting that was to start in a few minutes.

_"Leave it to the council to spoil my fun…_ Kakashi-san, I'm glad you're here," Sarutobi said, "The letter I just received may solve the problem I have replacing Sakura on team 7."

_"Heh, I win…_ oh?" Kakashi said noncommittally.

"This letter is from Lady Tsunade… it seems that she has taken another apprentice by the name Mito and the apprentice has her permission to come here to find someone to train Mito in Kenjutsu… Mito is volunteering her services until she masters this art. Shizune dropped her off at the hospital yesterday to assist the medics there, while she delivered this message to me… According to Anbu reports, Shizune has already said farewell to Mito and has left the village."

"What skills does she have?"

"According to Lady Tsunade, Mito is a fully trained medic and has a skill level of at least a high level Genin, but Lady Tsunade feels that she isn't quite ready for the Chunin exams yet. I'll leave it to you to confirm her skills… any other questions?"

"Do you know anything about her family?"

"According to what information I could gather… she is the daughter of Lady Tsunade and Jiraiya… how, when and where… are unknown… but according to rumors and what little information I could gather... Mito is their daughter."

"Lady Tsunade confirms this herself?"

"She doesn't deny the claims… I want her to meet her team as soon as possible, so you can have them get familiar with each other… any other questions," the Hokage asked. "Then you may leave," the Hokage said with a wave of his hand after Kakashi indicated that he had no further questions, "So I may go to the council meeting."

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_"Where am I?"_ Sakura thinks as she starts to regain consciousness. As her eyes open, she begins to take in her surroundings and remember that she is in the hospital. _"What have I done?"_ She thinks as she begins to recall the events of the last few hours. Memory bubbles of the hidden lab, capturing Tora, and the debriefing by the Hokage suddenly floated thru her mind. However, one memory was noticeably absent. She had a feeling that she should know something, but could not recall what that something was, or why it was important.

_**"Baka," **__the Inner Sakura berated. __**"We had the power and you let her take it away."**_

_ "What are you talking about… what power?"Sakura thought in bewilderment._

_**"A power so strong that we could capture the heart of Sasuke and possibly marry hi…"**_

"Oh, I see you've finally woke up," a medic said as she entered the Sakura's hospital room. "What did you do to yourself… when they carried you in, you were in a mess. It was difficult to stabilize you with what you had done to yourself…"

Sakura wasn't paying attention to what the medic was saying until Inner Sakura butted in.

_**"Hey I know her… she was the one who treated us when we came in."**_

Sakura finally really looked at the medic. The pale-skinned female medic, with black short hair(the tips ending about her chin), was wearing a long-sleeved black top with a high waist, light purple skirt apron, with black shorts underneath, and sandals with dark stockings that stop at her thighs. _"Yeah, she was the one who the first medic brought over to help treat me, when I arrived here," _Sakura suddenly remembered. "Oi… what did you do to me?"

"All I did was to stabilize your chakra… it was fluctuating in a bizarre manner… Well I was before the Hokage kicked every one out of the room," the flustered medic said with a pout.

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After getting directions from a medic in the hospital, Kakashi walked to the room where he was told where he could find Mito. As he approached the room, he noticed that it was where Sakura is recuperating. He was not prepared for what he found in the room.

_"Rin… no… it couldn't be…" _Kakashi thought as he entered the room and saw a medic talking with Sakura. _"She's dead… I know that she didn't have any kids… _Mito…"

"Yes… I am Mito," Mito replied as she turned to face the visitor, "How can I help you?"

"I am Kakashi… I was assigned to be your Sensei… Come with me."

"Yes Kakashi-sensei," Mito answered and then turned back to Sakura, "I better get going. I hope you feel better."

Kakashi placed his hand on Mito's shoulder and shushined them both out of the room.

_"Kakashi is her sensei…what's going on?"_Sakura thought asshe got out of bed and peeked out of her room door. She saw two medics walking down the hallway and overheard their discussion.

"Who is the new Medic," asked the medic on the left.

"Oh, her name is Mito… she's new here," answered the medic on the right.

"New here… I heard she has already got on a genin team."

"Which team?"

"Team 7… poor Sakura…,"the medic replied as both of the medics walked out of hearing range.

Sakura returned to her bed seething with rage.

_"She got my spot in team 7," _raged Sakura.

_**"Not only that but she took our power as well… what's left to take… but Sasuke…,"**_ the Inner Sakura taunted


	4. Chapter 4 Revelations

I do not own any of the characters in this story, nor this world where this story resides.

_Thoughts_

_(Authors notes)_

_**Thoughts of Demon/Inner Sakura**_

**Demon/Inner Sakura speaks**

Revelations

Chapter 4

"Oi… dobe… do you know why Kakashi told us to meet him here?" Sasuke moodily asked (they are meeting in training grounds 3, where they conducted the 2 bells teamwork test) as he is sitting with his back to one of the three wood posts (Naruto was tied up to the center one) while Naruto was sitting against the far one.

"No, teme… I know about as much as you do," Naruto answered.

"Whatever," Sasuke grumbled, as he continued to wait with his signature dour expression.

Naruto wasn't in the mood to play his usual games with "the avenger" today; his mind is too preoccupied with other pressing matters.

_"Where am I going to get extra money…? I need so much for food… an apartment… prank supplies… where am I going to get the extra money for ninja equipment?" _Naruto fretted.

_**"Get a roommate to split the cost of the apartment, than you can get a better apartment as well… duh,"**_ Kyubi replied with exasperation.

_"Easier said than done," _Naruto thought in reply.

_**"Not my problem," **_Kyubi taunted before returning to whatever he was doing before.

_"Some help you are,"_ Naruto thought as Kakashi and an unknown female suddenly shushined in front of him.

_"I wonder who she is," _Naruto and Sasuke simultaneously shared the same thought as they looked at her. They both noticed that she is a pale-skinned female with black short straight hair with the tips ending about her chin. She has a round black spot that surrounds her left eye. She wears a long-sleeved black top with a high waist, light purple skirt apron, with black shorts underneath, and sandals with dark stockings that stop at her thighs. They also noticed that she is wearing a backpack (Kakashi helped her fetch her belongings that she had left in a side hospital storage room, before coming to meet the guys).

"Here are the guys," Kakashi mentioned as he started to introduce Mito to the guys. "The broody one over there is Sasuke," Kakashi said as he pointed to each one, "and this one is Naruto. Guys… this is your new teammate… Mito."

"What about Sakura?" Naruto pointed out with concern for his former teammate. "What's going to happen to her?"

"Don't worry about her… the Hokage is making arrangement to get her a new sensei and new team to help her with her new handicap," Kakashi replied as he turned to Mito who had walked over to sit with her back to the third wood post that is between Sasuke and Naruto's posts.

"Well that's one less fan girl for me to be bothered by," Sasuke says to no one in particular.

"Ok guys… start with the introductions like last time… and don't ask me to show you how because you already know how… I'll be over here reading… so you start broody," Kakashi said as he pointed to Sasuke while going off to the side to stand and read his book.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke," He said after standing up, "my likes… well… my dislikes… well… having to repeat myself is one… Hobbies… are irrelevant… and my dream is to restore my clan and to kill a certain someone."

"Well… at least you said something new," Naruto replied as he stood up and Sasuke scowled at him as he sat down. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto… my likes… eating ramen… dislikes… waiting to eat ramen… and I dream of becoming the greatest Hokage in the history of Konoha."

"Yeah… keep dreaming dobe," Sasuke verbally sniped with a smirk.

Before Naruto could respond Mito stood up. "Well… My name is Senju Mito (when she says this Sasuke starts to look at her as if she is some kind of bug that just landed on his food)… my likes are…," Mito started as Naruto sat down, "Dango… and juggling my kunai (somewhere in Konoha, Anko is suddenly getting a warm fuzzy feeling)… my dislikes… are drunken men and rapists… my hobbies are juggling my kunai and meditating… the meditating helps me center my chakra… and my dream… is to get my parents back together and become the best kunoichi I can be."

"Meh… you juggle kunai… I find that hard to believe," Sasuke sneered.

Mito doesn't say anything. She just starts pulling out kunai and starts juggling them. First, two kunais, then three, four, five, six, then after she had seven in the air, she started to put them away. When she was back down to three she suddenly stopped with her arms spread out with a kunai in each hand and caught the third one on the tip of her nose (with the tip of the kunai resting on the tip of her nose). "Ta-dah," she said with a flourish.

Suddenly Kakashi was next to her. "Don't do that again, Rin… uh…Mito," Kakashi said as he snatched the kunai off her nose. "So you like to play with kunai… well no time like the present. Do a substitution jutsu," he ordered as he threw the kunai at her.

With a puff of smoke, the kunai struck a log that had been lying on the ground nearby.

"Now what?" asked a Naruto that was standing next to Naruto.

"Well I guess I don't have to ask you to perform a Henge," Kakashi said with a chuckle, "but can you do a Bunshin?"

"Why of course," said the third Naruto that was suddenly standing on the other side of the actual Naruto.

"Stop that," snarled Sasuke, as he came up behind them and slammed all three of their heads together. "One dobe is enough."

"Ow," Mito and Naruto yelped at the same time, as she went back to her normal form and the third Naruto poofed away while they rubbed their own heads.

"Well, I think that is enough for today. Take the rest of the day off because we will probably have plenty of D-ranked missions to do tomorrow," Kakashi said, "So try to get some rest."

"Speaking of which… I don't have a place to live yet?" Mito replied.

"_**Oi… What you need a boulder dropped on your head… say something," **_Kyubi sneered to Naruto.

Fortunately Naruto didn't need a boulder to drop on his head to hear opportunity knocking.

"Uh… Kakashi-sensei… I have been thinking about getting a roommate recently… to help me with my expenses… but I would need a two room apartment and I don't think I would be able to get a place," Naruto pointed out.

"Hmm… I think I will be able to help both of you in this matter," Kakashi offered. _"I wonder why Sasuke is looking at Mito in such a manner… She hasn't been here long enough to have offended him already…_ Well since nobody else is offering to help," Kakashi said as he looked at Sasuke, who was trying his best to look uninterested. " Sasuke, I'll see you later… you two come with me, we'll go to the Hokage and we'll see what he can do…. Shall we?"

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

_~Later in the day on the road outside the Uchiha Compound~_

_"Where is he?"_ Sasuke thought as he stood outside of his family's compound waiting for Kakashi. _"Why must he be late all of the time…? I could be training right now," _he thought.

Suddenly, Kakashi arrived in front of him.

"Sensei, where have you been? I have other things I could do," Sasuke muttered.

"Walk with me," Kakashi ordered, then started to walk side by side with Sasuke down the road. "What is your problem with the Mito?"

"Meh… one would think that you and the Hokage would have remembered Konoha's clan history… particularly when it comes to the clan rivalry between the Uchihas and the Senjus." Kakashi listened very carefully as Sasuke explained how the rivalry extended all the way back to the two clan's founders the famous Senju brothers that had started it all.

Little did they know that Sasuke is always followed by spies for the council… spies that heard every word about the rivalry… but more importantly that a member of one of the founding clans has returned to the village.

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_~Later at the Hokage's office~_

As Kakashi walked up to the third's secretary's desk (so he can ask to speak with the Hokage), a group of grumbling councilmen, which was leaving the Hokage' office with an Anbu escort, brushed past him.

"He has not heard the last of this," Kakashi over hears one of the councilmen complaining to another as they walk by.

"It looks like you stirred up a hornet's nest," the secretary says with an annoyed expression, "they have been in and out of his office for the last hour since the emergency council meeting."

"What are you talking about," Kakashi muttered.

"Oh, go on in… I imagine the Hokage has something that he wants to discuss with you," she said as she shoos him towards the Hokage's office.

As Kakashi walked in, he saw the Hokage sitting and resting his elbows on his deck while rubbing his temples with his fingers.

"Can you even imagine the storm you started…? I would think that a person of your experience would know better than to discuss such matters on the street," the Hokage growled. "Once the council had found out about Mito and her lineage… They first wanted me to either marry her off to Sasuke… to restart the Uchiha and Senju clans… or draft her into one of Konoha's Shinobi teams. I got them calmed down when I was finally able to convince them that she was here as an independent agent and they would get their way faster by not antagonizing her, or her Parents… How they found out that her parents are Lady Tsunade and Jiraiya… I never will know."

"Well, you won't have to worry about her getting married off to Sasuke… He hates her."

"Why would he hate her… she's pretty enough… he barely knows her."

"I guess he knows more about his clan's history than you do… or have you forgotten about the infamous Uchiha-Senju feud."

"He knows about that?"

"Of course, he does… he lives alone on the Uchiha compound and has nothing to do at night other than to train and consult the Uchiha clan library. Oh by the way were you able to set Mito and Naruto up with a new apartment."

"Yes… the council was so eager to get on her good side that they arranged for one of the old Senju clan homes be returned to her clan. She and Naruto are set up in a nice two bedroom house; it has two floors so the bedrooms are upstairs. Now get out of here… I have to send a letter to Lady Tsunade and Jiraiya, to advise them that they or at least one of them may need to live here to be able to watch out for Mito's interests, so the council can't rope her into something worse. It will probably be Lady Tsunade, since she is the present head of the Senju clan."

Kakashi just shook his head, in amazement at everything that had transpired in just a few hours, as he left the Hokage's office.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

_~a week later~_

After finishing a D-level mission at the hospital, a tired Mito is returning to the house to find Naruto try to juggle kunai… again.

"What are you doing?" Mito asked with an exasperated tone, "I told you that it took me months to learn how to juggle seven kunai."

"I was bored and I wanted something to do."

"Come here… sit down… I have someone I want you to meet… but before I do… can you keep a secret?"

"Yeah, sure…"

"I really mean it… can you keep a secret?"

"On my honor… I will keep whatever you reveal to me a secret… until you tell me otherwise."

"I think the easiest way to do this is just to show you… but in order to show you will require someone's help."

"Who's help?"

"Don't worry just come over here and sit down," Mito said as she sat down cross legged on the living room floor and patted the floor in front of her.

Naruto sat down cross legged in front of her and clasped her hands that were reaching out to him.

"Remember that meditation technique I showed you a couple of days ago?" Mito asked.

"Yeah… to help me center my chakra…"

"We're going to use that meditation technique to make a connection on the mental plane… I know this sounds complicated, but it only is for the first time… just trust me… someone I trust is doing all of the work… we just need to get in the right state of mind to help things along…ok?"

Naruto just shrugged his shoulders, closed his eyes, and started taking slow deep breathes

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ (**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

When Naruto opened his eyes he found himself standing, in a vast open grassy plain, holding hands with Mito.

"_Where are we?"_ Naruto asked in wonderment as he looked around.

"_Deep within my mind," _Mito answered as she let go of his hands and motioned to everything with a wave of her hand, _"This is my mindscape."_

"_How did we get here?"_

"_**I brought you here,"**_a feminine voice said.

Naruto turned, and saw a female teen suddenly appear, this female is wearing a white kimono with a sparkling gold obi. _"Who are you?" _Naruto asked the stranger.

"_**I am Mito's guardian… my name is Akane."**_

"_This is whom I wanted you to meet, Naruto," _Mito confessed, _"She has been my guardian since birth…You could say she was placed inside of me when I was an infant."_

"_An infant… this is starting to sound a little too familiar…," _Naruto replied.

"_**Mito… this boy has a familiar energy about him…,"**_ Akane noted, _**"I think we should visit his mindscape…"**_

"_No… wait… don't…,"_ Naruto gasped right before the three of them disappeared.

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Suddenly, they reappeared in a sewer. _**"**__**This**__** is your mindscape,"**_ Akane asked Naruto.

"Uh… yeah… I guess… I never really thought about it," Naruto admitted.

"Why are we here?" Mito asked.

"_**Perhaps… what you should be asking Naruto… is why he has a Bijuu in side of him."**_

"_How do you know that," _Naruto wondered.

"_**Entities like me can sense others of our kind… and no… I am not a bijuu," **_Akane answered defensively.

"_A what… what's a Bijuu? And what does that go to do with you?" _Mito asked Naruto.

"_A bijuu is a demon and long time ago one for some reason was placed inside of me… Well… at least that's what I could figure out from the ramblings of drunks and the ranting of mobs that used to try to kill me when I was a lot younger," _Naruto explained.

"_But why is one inside of… __you__,"_ Mito persisted.

"_I still haven't figured that part out yet,"_ Naruto admitted.

"_**Why don't we just go ask the bijuu,"**_Akane suggested, _**"Take us to him, Naruto… please."**_

"_Ok, just a warning… he's not always the friendliest,"_ Naruto warned.

The three started to walk down one sewer until they came to a huge iron cage that had a large seal with Kanji writing on it that was posted on the cage's door.

"_**Finally, decided to pay me a visit kit," **_the Kyubi growled menacingly, _**"and who did you bring with you."**_

"_**We are friends of Naruto's," **_Akane said as she approached and stop in front of Kyubi's cage.

"_**What does the Kami of another world want of me?"**_, Kyubi growled as he changed his form to look like a teen shinobi the same age as Naruto.

"_**Leave us… we have much to discuss and your presence is not needed,"**_ Akane said to Mito and Naruto and with a wave of her hand sent them back to Mito's mindscape.

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_"I wonder what their going to talk about?"_ Mito wondered.

_"They're probably talking about us and she didn't want us to hear their conversation," _Naruto figured, _"So what do we do now?"_

_ "Instead of wasting time… I should meditate and you should probably practice controlling your chakra."_

_ "Huh?"_

_ "Practice controlling your chakra with this," _Mito said with a wave of her hand as a tree appeared a few feet away from them.

_"How do I do that?"_

After Mito explained to Naruto the way to perform the tree walking exercise, and watching him perform the exercise a few times to make sure he was doing it right, Mito sat down to meditate and wait for Akane to return.

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After what seemed to be a few hours Akane returned a bit disheveled, and in a very good mood.

"_**After a vigorous… uh … discussion… we decided to cooperate with each other," **_Akane said with a smirk.

"_So what does that mean?" _Naruto asked with a puzzled expression.

"_**It means that if I explain to you why I am here and help you all I can… she will also help you both where she can," **_Kyubi's disembodied voice explained.

"_What do __you__ get out of it for your cooperation,"_ Mito cynically asked.

"_**Let's just say it gets awful lonely being stuck inside the body of a teenager… heh… she promised to… visit me more often," **_Kyubi chuckled as Akane blushed.

"_Yada yada yada… less bragging and more explaining about Naruto," _Mito grumbled.

"_**Be careful how you speak to me… **__**bug**__**,"**_ Kyubi growled.

"_**And **__**you**__** will be careful to how you speak to my charge… Kyubi… or must I give you **__**another**__** lesson in humility…,"**_ Akane warned sternly.

Kyubi voice was silent for a moment, then he was heard to sulkingly say, _**"Fine… Almost 13 years ago, someone… I don't know who… summoned me. The person did something to me that cause me to fly into a blind rage and while I was enraged, they aimed me at Konoha. Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage of Konoha, fought against me to defend his beloved village and his family…"**_

"_His family… who is his family…?" _Naruto asked in a hushed tone.

"_**He was fighting for his wife, Uzumaki Kushina, and his newborn son…"**_

"_What happened then…?"_ Naruto asked.

"_**He soon realized that the only way that he could truly conquer the beast was to seal the demon into his newborn son… yes, you are his son… Naruto."**_

"_What happened to my __oka-san__?"_

"_**She died very soon after your otô-san sealed me inside of you."**_

"_And my otô-san…?"_

"_**The price for sealing a bijuu… is the life of another… your otô-san died to save those he loved. It was his dying wish that you be seen as a hero… ironic that the town repaid his sacrifice by trying to make a pariah out of you."**_

"_So … he just left me alone?"_ Naruto muttered.

"_**No… He named two people to be your godparents… Why they abandoned their charge… I have no answer for that question."**_

"_Who are they?"_

"_**Jiraiya and Lady Tsunade…,"**_ Akane answered.

"_My __oka-san and __otô-san are his godparents_…," Mito said in astonishment as she looked towards Naruto.

"…_So __you__ are my nee-chan… I always wanted a nee-chan," _Naruto said with a chuckle.

"_**I fulfilled part of my bargain…so don't forget your part… Akane,"**_ Kyubi warned.

"_**I won't… you old grouch (a small disembodied voice can be heard saying, " I heard that.")… Meh… Naruto I noticed that your control over your chakra is lacking to say the least. Mito needs to help you in that area, but for now it has been a long day… go and get some sleep," **_Akane said as she sent them back.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Mito and Naruto opened their eyes, saw that they were back and still holding hands while sitting on the floor. As they released their hands, Naruto leaned over and gave Mito a big hug.

"I'm glad you're my nee-chan," Naruto said with a huge smile.

"Well… I better write a letter to both of my parents and let them know what's going on… I think they may have a few questions for the Hokage regarding you and how you have been treated for the last twelve years," Mito said with a knowing smirk.


	5. Chapter 5 Dango, Anyone?

I do not own any of the characters in this story, nor this world where this story resides.

_Thoughts_

_(Authors notes)_

_**Thoughts of Demon/Inner Sakura (inner conversation)**_

**Demon/Inner Sakura speaks**

**Dango, Anyone?**

Chapter 5

_~One week earlier~_

A medic comes in to do a final examination of Sakura to see if she is well enough to be released. The medic goes thru a series of standard questions that Sakura answers with only a nod of her head, barely acknowledging his existence.

"Have you experienced any headaches, light headedness, or dizziness, or loss of consciousness since yesterday?" the medic asked.

_**"Don't tell him about the headaches,"**_ Inner Sakura warns_**, "I want to get out of this hospital as much as you do.**_

Sakura did want to get out of the hospital. "_If I tell him about those headaches, they may never let me out of here,"_ Sakura thought as she shook her head no to the medic's question.

"Well then I think you are fit to leave. Report to the Hokage's office, he left word that he wanted to see you when you are released," the medic said as he turned and left the room.

_**"Finally... I thought he would never leave," **_Inner Sakura muttered. _**"Now you… I have a bone to pick with you," **_Inner Sakura snarled.

_"Me… what did I do," _Sakura whimpered.

_**"You let that baka take our power away. I was free for a moment," **_snarled Inner Sakura.

_"What do you mean by, 'you were free'?" _Sakura asked.

_**"It wasn't you who completed that last mission. It was I… I caught Tora, not you," **_Inner Sakura bragged, _**"or don't you remember?"**_

___"I don't remember anything of the mission after I was on the roof."_

_**"Yes, I know… there are blank spots in my memory as well. As if, someone has tampered with our head. However, I do remember the power I felt on the roof. I remember feeling in charge for the first time in my life. No sense in crying over spilt milk. The key to my freedom is gone… for now, but you are puny, pathetic and weak," **_Inner Sakura berated Sakura.

_"What do you mean?"_ Sakura pled.

_**"You have been neglecting your training. Now since we do not have access to our chakra, we need to gain new skills or we will not be able to advance as a ninja. The first thing you need to do is to get a new sensei… Gai-sensei would be your best bet since he knows how to train someone who is lacking chakra. Now go to the Hokage and do whatever you have to do to convince him to assign Gai-sensei to be our new sensei. Now go," **_Inner Sakura ordered.

Sakura scrambled to do as she was ordered, and fled to The Hokage's tower.

As she was waiting with other shinobi that was waiting to see the Hokage, she overheard a nearby conversation about her. Sakura glanced over quickly and saw a blond and a brunet kunoichi whispering to each other.

"Look at her," the blond whispered as she glanced at Sakura, "I can see why the council wants Sasuke to marry Mito instead of her."

"Meh, look at her, she's so skinny and weak… they're probably afraid that she would only produce weak children," the brunet agreed, "too bad they didn't pick me. I wouldn't let the council down.

"From what I hear… you don't let any male down," the blond said with a sneer.

Soon the two kunoichi were fighting and the Anbu had to escort them out of the room.

_**"See what happens when you neglect your training. No wonder Sasuke doesn't respect you… nobody does…," **_Inner Sakura taunted.

The Hokage's secretary then interrupted Sakura's inner conversation when she stated, "You can go in now."

_"How am I going to convince the Hokage to assign me to Gai-sensei when he already has a student?" _Sakura asked as she is walking towards the Hokage's office door.

_**"Just make a point of noticing and telling the Hokage that he looks tired and stressed, and when you get on your knees to massage his feet… I'll take over," **_Inner Sakura suggested.

_"What are you going to do?" _Sakura fearfully asked as she is entering the Hokage's office.

_** "Whatever I have to do to get my way," **_Inner Sakura firmly stated as she closed and locked the office door, _**"So don't ask any more questions."**_

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

_~One week later~_

Sakura is struggling to keep up with Lee as he runs around Konoha.

_"Why did I let myself get talked into this hell," _Sakura thought to herself as she ran with heavy iron weights on her ankles, wrists, upper arms and waist.

_**"Stop complaining. You want Sasuke… then you'll learn to suck it up," **_Inner Sakura berated, _**"and train night and day if you have to, so we can get stronger."**_

___"I wish you would never use that phrase again," _Sakura thought with a shudder as she remembered the events in the Hokage's office.

_**"Than stop complaining… you still have a lot more work to do."**_

__Sakura just mentally nodded as she kept up the brutal pace.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

In a dark cellar a man standing hunched over a vat, straights up and laughs.

"Hahaha… I finally finished your work father. You will finally have your revenge!"

He scurries around his lab, gathering his supplies for his trip.

"But first, I must send word to the Akatsuki that I am available to assist them now, heh heh."

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

As Naruto stands in the living room trying to keep the leaf from falling off his forehead, he saw Mito finish her letters to Jiraiya and Lady Tsunade.

"How are you going to get those letters to them," Naruto asked as he saw her finish the letters and stand up.

"Before I left for Konoha, oka-san gave me a going away present that we had won in a card game," Mito said with a grin, "it was an ancient scroll that I used to get a summons contract with a rare breed bird."

"What bird."

"Well I think it would better to show you," Mito said as a star shaped scar, on her left shoulder, flared to life momentarily.

Suddenly, two flaming birds( one covered in blue flames and the other with black flames) the size of full-grown brown bears appeared in front of them.

"Hey Aiko, long time no see," said the blue one in a chipper voice, "Whose that?"

"Naruto, let me introduce you to two of my friends. This blue one's name is Mitsuko and the moody black one is Kage," Mito said as she motioned to each one, "Mitsuko and Kage, this is Naruto, he is my ototo."

"Hello, it is nice to meet you. What kind of birds are you?" Naruto asked with a puzzled expression.

"We are the offspring of the Phoenix. The Phoenix, a cosmic Kami, created us so it would not be alone anymore," Mitsuko cheerfully replied. "So why have you summoned us Aiko?"

"Can you please take these messages to my parents," Mito requested as she placed a letter in each beak.

Both birds nodded their heads before disappearing.

"Your friends are nice nee-chan," Naruto said with a smile, "but why do they call you Aiko?"

"Oh, it's just an old childhood nickname," Mito, said as she is starting to notice Naruto's building frustration with the leaf exercise. "I think you need to stop doing that, and get out of the house."

"Really…?" Naruto said with an air of hope.

"Yep… you need to go out and do the tree walking exercise instead."

"Oh…"

"Don't look at me that way… and make a bunch of clones as well. So they can do it at the same time."

"Why should I do that?"

Mito just looked at him dumbfounded. "You don't know… When they dispel, you gain their insights, experiences, and knowledge. You know, sometimes I wonder about you," She said as she walked up to him and rapped her knuckles on his forehead.

"All right I'll do it," Naruto said while rubbing his forehead and leaving the house.

"Well, let's see if all of my chores are done," thought Mito, as she looked the house over. "Man, Naruto can be sloppy and careless at times. I bet if I hadn't noticed that the milk was spoiled he would have drank it."

Mito took one last look then left the house with a happy expression on her face.

"Since they're all done, I deserve a treat," thought Mito, as images of Dango danced thru her head.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

As Mito walks to the Dango shop, something down the street catches her eye, Sakura being tortured…ahem…I mean being trained by Gai-sensei. As she keeps walking, she notices Sakura's energy levels fluctuating.

_**"Eventually, that Band-Aid I applied is going to stop working and her power will reveal itself and then there will be no stopping it," **_Akane mentions.

_"I thought what you did cured her problem,"_ Mito answers back.

_**"Her body was not meant to handle that amount of power. Whatever was done to her would have just supercharged her chakra until she exploded like a bomb."**_

___"Who would do that to themselves?"_

_**"I think someone was sold a messed up technique originally and she just ended up with it. She's lucky that she isn't a more powerful ninja, because the explosion would have occurred much faster. It would have been instantaneous, if she was at a Jounin level or more." **_

___"So what did you do to her?"_

_**"Talk about some major body work, I had to work quickly because the technique had a regenerative healing factor designed into it, which would have helped if the rest wasn't designed to cause a major meltdown of the chakra network. I had to basically redesign her whole chakra network. Before the chakra currents were like pathways, except now the pathways are more like DNA strands but a lot more tightly wound. That is the only way her body could withstand the strain of the power load that would be placed on it. She may not know it, but all of this physical training is just going to help her in the long run."**_

___"What kind of power are you talking about?"_

_**"That technique gave her a twisted form of sage level of physical strength. I don't know how it was created, but I noticed that the technique draws its energy from everything around the person using it."**_

___"So it can be turned off or reversed."_

_**"No, when I examined her I noticed that it was permanent. Whoever designed it wanted to kill the idiot who used it."**_

___"So what are the limits to her strength?"_

_**"Her base strength level is extremely high, I would compare her to Tsunade on her best days, but it just goes up from there. It's only limited by her level of anger. The angrier she gets…"**_

___"Well I pity the person she gets pissed at," _Sakura thought as she kept walking towards the Dango shop.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Kakashi was walking thru the village, when he heard a familiar groan. It was Sakura's groan. He spotted Gai and Sakura, as he turned the corner.

"Since you finally finished your thousand pushups and sit ups, now go run around Konoha… ten times," Gai said as Sakura groaned again and did as she was ordered. "Her efforts are not so youthful, but she is getting better," Gai replied to Kakashi as he noticed him approach.

"How'd you get stuck with her," Kakashi said as he pointed to her as she ran away.

"Hokage-sama approached me and ordered me to take her as a student. He said something about 'her being very persuasive'. Now that I think about it. This may sound strange, but he blushed when he said that," Gai said with a puzzled expression on his face.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

As Mito was patiently waiting in the queue at the Dango shop, a drunken man stumbled into her and others. As his eyes came into focus, he thought he saw someone he wanted to get to know better.

"Oi… show me yours -hiccup- and I'll show you mine –hiccup-," the drunk finally managed to say.

"You… pervert," Mito, and another female said at the same time, as they seemed to crush his head between their punches (think fist sandwich with his head as the meat), then they simultaneously pulled out a kunai and looked at him while he fell to the floor unconscious.

"Meh, drunks sure aren't as tough as they use to be," the kunoichi said to her friend who was standing next to her as Mito nodded in agreement. "My name is Anko and this is Kurenai," she said as she holstered her kunai and both of the kunoichi appraised Mito, "You new around here?"

"Yes, I am. I came here to find a Kenjutsu Sensei," Mito answered as she holstered her kunai, and then bought a Dango on a stick.

"So… You prefer swords huh?" Anko asked as she stole a quick glance at Mito's kunai holster while buying her Dango.

"No, it's not my preferred weapon, but I want to be able to use it properly if I need to use it," Mito replied, "I don't want to be a liability to anyone, by having to be rescued all of the time."

"Good idea," Anko retorted as she continued her internal evaluation of Mito.

"So you already spoke with the Hokage?" Kurenai asked as she bought a Dango for herself as well.

"Oh, yes, I came with a letter of introduction, and he placed me on a genin team; I am team 7's medic," Mito replied as all three of them walked away from the Dango stand and sat at a nearby table.

"Kakashi's team, eh. So how is it that you are a genin and are already a medic?" questioned Kurenai.

"My oka-san and nee-chan were very… persistent in my training. They have been training me for as long as I can remember," Mito said with a chuckle, as she drew a kunai again.

"Yes, family can at times be much stricter in training than a stranger would be," Kurenai chuckled as she thought of the Hyuuga clan.

"So you're into kunai, huh?" Anko stated as she noticed Mito spinning a kunai with the fingers of one hand (Mito is treating it like a baton).

"I love them as much as my senbon needles and Chokutō," Mito answered with a misty-eyed expression.

"You're starting to sound like another genin kunoichi that I know," Kurenai said with a small smile.

"Heh, my otô-san once warned me that I would end up like my oka-san," Mito chuckled, "so what do you do?"

"We are Jōnin," replied Kurenai.

"Does either of you have knowledge of various poisons?"

"I do…Why?" Anko asked.

"I would like to learn as much as I can about them for two reasons," Mito answered, "One- so I can increase the efficiency of my senbon needles, and two- so I can be a more effective medic."

"If I trained you… what would I get out of it?" Anko grunted.

"Well… If you ever need a private medic, you know… to treat any injuries that you want to keep off the record, I would volunteer my services."

"So you're that good huh? Who did you say trained you again?" asked Kurenai.

"My sensei was Lady Tsunade."

"I thought you said that your oka-san trained you?" a bewildered Anko asked.

"I did. Lady Tsunade is my oka-san. I don't like to use her name. I prefer to earn my own way," Mito said with a stubborn expression on her face.

"So who is your otô-san?" Kurenai inquired.

"Jiraiya," Mito said with a sigh of resignation, "I don't like being a name dropper."

"You're not… we asked you. You didn't volunteer the information," Kurenai replied as she and Anko exchanged looks, "Now I can see why the village council was interested in you."

"So will you train me?"

"Yeah," Anko said as she went back to eating her Dango.

"And I might be able to introduce you to a possible Kenjutsu Sensei," Kurenai added, "and you can find out if he's willing to give you lessons. Heh, you might be able to make a trade for services agreement."

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ (**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

_~Several weeks later~_

After another tiring day of D-ranked missions and then training with _Hayate Gekko (she alternates her training in the evening with either Anko or Hayate Gekko), Mito drags herself into her house to find Naruto hanging from the ceiling._

_"Oi… Where have you been?" Naruto loudly asks._

"Training…"

"Well, you better get your rest because Sensei wants us to meet him at the Academy mission assignment desk tomorrow. I hope we get a more exciting mission than a D-ranked mission. I'm getting tired of those," Naruto complained.

"Well… You better be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it," Mito warned as she thought of the mission she went on two weeks ago, while she practically crawled up the stairs to her room.

"_Yeah, right,"_ Naruto thought, _"she worries too much_."


	6. Chapter 6 Have you seen this person?

I do not own any of the characters in this story, nor this world where this story resides.

_Thoughts_

_(Authors notes)_

_**Thoughts of Demon/Inner Sakura (inner conversation)**_

**Demon/Inner Sakura speaks**

**Have you seen this person?**

Chapter 6

_~Two weeks earlier~_

The man in the cellar is rereading the letter Akatsuki had sent him via courier:

Greetings Honorable Doctor Ishii,

We are pleased that you finally decided to accept our offer of working with us towards a mutually beneficial goal. We will be pleased to meet you at the place called the Flaming Bush that is located at Otafuku Gai. We will be sending someone there to meet you and escort you to our location.

Sincerely,

A Friend.

"Finally, they responded to my letter," Shirō sneers as he crumples the letter in his hands.

Shirō laughs as he lowers the crumpled letter. _"It's ironic that they want to meet me in a brothel considering my plans for them and the world," _he thinks as he chuckles to himself.

"At last father, your village will get its revenge and this world will get the justice it deserves," Shirō yells triumphantly with a raised fist, which is holding the crumpled letter.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

As Mito sleeps, Akane assumes the Lotus position, meditating in Mito's mindscape. As she relaxes, a vision explodes into her mind.

_**"Nothing left but death and destruction,"**_ Akane whispers to herself, as the visions fade away, leaving her to attempt to make sense of them.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

_~The morning of the next day~_

Mito and Naruto are at the kitchen table eating breakfast (Mito is having a bowl of Miso soup with a cup of green tea, and Naruto is having a bowl of ramen with a cup of milk. Mito doesn't let Naruto drink straight out of the carton. Well, she hasn't caught him doing it anymore).

"All of these D-ranked missions are getting on my nerves," Mito grumbles, "I wish we would get a more exciting mission."

"I'm sick and tired of them too," Naruto mumbles in agreement with his mouth full of ramen.

"Please, swallow before you talk, Naruto," Mito pleads with a chuckle, as she rolls her eyes, "I don't need to see what you chew, to know that you do."

"Sorry," Naruto answers after he swallows his mouthful of ramen. "Well, we had better hurry up, Kakashi wanted to meet us at the bridge to tell us our assignments for the day."

Just as Mito was about to respond, someone was heard knocking at their front door.

They looked at each other, jumped up, and tried to beat the other to the door.

Naruto might have beat Mito, if she hadn't somehow pinned Naruto's pant leg to the floor with a well aimed kunai.

An out of breath Mito answered the door, to find Hyuuga Hinata waiting patiently outside.

"G-G-Good morning, Mito-san," Hinata shyly said to Mito.

"Good morning," Mito returned.

"_**Isn't she the one that you seen shadowing Naruto around the village,"**_ Akane pointed out.__

"_Yes she is… hmmm… I going to have to have a talk with that girl some time,"_ Mito mentally replied to Akane.

"G-G-Good morning, N-Naruto-san," Hinata greeted Naruto, as he was freeing his pant leg from the kunai.

"Good morning," Naruto grunted in reply.

"Mito, K-Kurenai-sensei sent me to inform you that you will be going on a mission with us today," Hinata stated as she faced Mito, "S-She said to meet us at the Hokage tower in an hour."

"Mito, won't Kakashi wonder where you are?" Naruto asked.

"K-Kurenai-sensei has already informed him of the mission that the Hokage has assigned to us," Hinata explained, "I was told that Kurenai asked for you specifically to be loaned to our team for the mission, but I don't know why."

"Thank you Hinata-san," Mito responded, "inform Kurenai that I will bet there."

"L-Later then," Hinata said with a nod to Mito. "B-Bye Naruto," she said with a wave to Naruto as she turned leave.

Naruto just waved back to her as he returned to his breakfast, while Mito closed the front door, and then walked over to rejoin him.

"Why do you have all of the luck? You get to go on an actual mission, while I get stuck babysitting plants, planting cats, and finding lost babies," whined Naruto.

"Don't you mean 'babysitting babies, planting plants, and finding lost cats."

"No, I prefer my version," Naruto retorted.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

_~Later that morning~_

As Mito approaches the Hokage tower, she notices Gai and Kurenai talking, while Rock Lee, Tenten, and Hinata seemed to be standing by the wall of the tower waiting.

Gai noticed Mito as she drew closer to him and Kurenai. He nodded in her direction as he shook Kurenai's hand and then turned and walked away.

"Mito, Now that you are here, we can go fetch the supplies and deliver them for the local merchant," Kurenai said.

"Kurenai-sensei, why are you leading Guy-sensei's team? Where is Neji, and why is Hinata here?" a bewildered Mito asked.

"I'll explain as we walk," Kurenai stated as she motioned for the others to follow. "To answer your questions," Kurenai replied as they were walking to the supply merchant's shop. "Guy thought I could use the experience leading other people, besides my own team. Neji isn't here, because he injured himself during some self-training he was engaging in, and he pushed himself too far. Does that answer your questions?" Kurenai coolly replied to Mito who is walking at her right side.

"Thank you for your indulgence, I didn't mean to offend," Mito tried to mollify, "I was merely curious. And Hinata…?"

"Your questions don't offend me," Kurenai reassured, "In fact, I like members of my team to ask questions." Kurenai glanced back to make sure they were out of earshot of the others. "Hinata does not have many whom she can call a friend and I thought that you could befriend her since the two of you are the same age (They're both 12 years old.)," Kurenai whispered to Mito. "That is one of the reasons that I asked the Hokage if I could borrow you for this mission," Kurenai casually replied, "that and I thought I could use the opportunity to get to know you better as well. I thought we could talk as they carry the goods into the Doctor's home."

By this time, they were at the supply shop. Kurenai went in and spoke to the shop keeper. The shopkeeper had his assistants bring out the boxes that needed to be delivered. After a few minutes, the assistants were done and there was a large pile of boxes left in front of the ninjas. Before Kurenai could tell the genins to gather the supplies so that they can leave, she got a volunteer.

"Don't bother yourselves, I can carry these," Lee boldly stated as he waved the other genin away from the boxes, "If I can't carry these few packages (there is only five large boxes), then I will do a thousand pushups when we get back to Konoha."

"Don't worry," Tenten replied when she noticed that Mito was about to object as Lee waited for Tenten to stack the boxes on his back, "He loves to test his limits. He does things like this all of the time."

Mito looked to Kurenai and Hinata for confirmation and got her answer. Kurenai merely nodded her head, while Hinata rolled her eyes.

As soon as the packages were loaded, they began their trip. Lee leads the way, with Tenten assisting him (she is making sure the boxes stayed balanced on his back), since they had delivered items to this particular person many times before. Kurenai and Mito followed close behind them, while Hinata took up the rear. After a few minutes, Mito was curious about to whom they were delivering the goods.

"Where are we taking these goods," Mito asked Kurenai as she motioned to the boxes.

"There is a scientist, Doctor Shirō Ishii, who lives near the village. His father, Doctor Daichi Ishii, also was a scientist; he came from a village that was destroyed in a war and he resettled near our village with a new wife and his infant son," Kurenai divulged, as they continued walking, "His first wife was killed when his village was destroyed and he soon remarried on his journey to our village. The father created many items and techniques for our village and he apprenticed his son to carry on his legacy. His son has not been as successful as his father, but he keeps trying to be useful to our village."

"Shirō didn't marry? He lives with just his step-mother," Mito asked.

"From what I heard, his stepmother was never satisfied with her stepson. She treated him rather harshly, and rules his life with an iron fist; probably because she never was able to sire any of her own before her husband passed and she blames him for her lot in life," Kurenai suggested. "Well here we are," she said as she pointed to a large ramshackle house.

Kurenai motioned for the female genins to help Lee, while she walked over to the house's front door and knocked on it.

An elderly woman answered the door. "What do you want?" she gruffly said.

"Mrs. Ishii, Sorry to disturb you, is your son at home?" Kurenai asked.

"No, the lazy so and so left to pick up some other supplies," Mrs. Ishii retorted, "He said he would be back later."

"But we are here to deliver the goods that your son has ordered," Kurenai said soothingly, "If you would be so kind as to direct my team where you want the boxes, they will move them for you."

"You three follow me with the boxes," Mrs. Ishii barked as she pointed to Lee, Tenten, and Hinata. She then turned and went into the house. Lee, Tenten, and Hinata picked up the boxes and followed Mrs. Ishii into the house.

Kurenai turned, walked over, and sat down in the shade of a nearby tree.

"How'd she know those three were here to bring the boxes into the house?" Mito inquired.

"Like I said before, this isn't the first time that we have delivered supplies to the house," Kurenai stated with a bored expression.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

_~Inside the hut~_

"You (pointing to Lee) carry those three boxes into the generator room (pointing to the room), unpack the boxes, and place the items on the shelves next to the generator," Mrs. Ishii ordered, "You wait here (She said to Tenten), while I take your friend here and give her something to do."

Mrs. Ishii then walks over to Hinata and points to one of the boxes. "Pick that up and follow me," she barks to Hinata.

Hinata picks up the box and follows Mrs. Ishii down a long hallway to a large room with a pit in the middle of the floor. The pit has a cage covering the top, either to prevent someone from falling in, or to prevent something from escaping. Hinata can't see what's in the pit, but she can see that it is full of cobwebs.

"What's in there," Hinata asked with a worried tone.

"Just my baka of a son's pet," she said as she walked over to a large bin sitting in the corner. "He feeds her with these," she said as she reached into the large bin and pulled out what looked like a stunned large fat wingless fly (about the size of a cantaloupe); "It is one of his many failed experiments. So he uses them to feed his pet."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"First, put the box down over here next to this bin, and then feed his pet. Just feed it all of the grub from this bin and the other three bins against the wall over there. Just don't get too close to the bars… and don't. Fall. In," she said with a cackle as she left the room, "I'll be back to fetch you."

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Tenten soon found herself alone in that one room, as Lee left the room with three boxes to carry out his task.

"I'm glad to see one of you is a self-starter," Mrs. Ishii said with a bit of sarcasm as she entered the room, "grab that box and follow me. It goes in the cellar with his failed super soldier food experiment."

"Super soldier food experiment… what went wrong with it," Tenten asked as she followed Mrs. Ishii.

"Oh the baka went through all the trouble of making some type of food to help your village create super soldiers for some guy called Danzo Shimura, and he neglected to seal the jars properly," she said with a huff, "Now they have some kind of weird mushrooms growing inside the jars on the food. So he had to abandon the experiment, and return Danzo's money. Danzo was so angry with the fiasco that he did not want Shirō to try again. Shirō keeps the jars in the hope that he can do some research with them someday and possibly salvage something from the mess."

As they finally reach the cellar door, Mrs. Ishii opened it to reveal a set of stairs going thru a steep tunnel down into the darkness. When she flipped on a switch by the door a few sparks flew from the switch as the light came on in the cellar.

"I hope that boy that was with you doesn't touch anything in that room he is going into, because the generator has been acting a little funny lately."

"No, he won't touch anything. _I hope. _He's a professional," Tenten tried to say in an assuring tone.

"Well, I hope you're right," she said as she led Tenten down the stairs. "Welcome to wonderland, Alice," Mrs. Ishii said as she started cackling again.

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Lee walked into the dark room and saw the shelves across the room next to the glowing generator. He walked in and immediately went to work removing the jars of chemicals from the boxes and placing them on the shelves. He tried to be neat about it, but the light being provided by the glowing generator was not enough. He looked around the room for a light switch and spotted a red switch all the way across the room on the wall next to the door. He didn't feel like walking all the way across the room, just to flick the switch, so he reached down, grabbed one of his kunai and threw it at the switch to turn on the light. What he did not know was that switch didn't turn on the light, but turned off the damper control on the generator that Doctor Shirō Ishii installed to stabilize the out of control generator until he could get around to do a complete repair job on it (Well, that is the story he told his stepmother).

_"Finally, I can see what I am doing,"_ Lee thought as he resumed his duties, not noticing that the extra light was not emanating from the burnt out light bulb with the pull chain that was dangling from the center of the ceiling, but from the generator itself.

As Lee finished the job, a loud snap sound drew his eyes to the generator. His last thought before the room was filled with a blinding white light… _"WTF?"_

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"I wonder what's taking them so long," Mito asked as she stood up.

"I don't know, but I have a strange feeling that Lee is about to do something stupid," Kurenai replied as she stood up to stand next to Mito.

Just as they started to walk towards the house the whole world seemed to be blown apart. The wave of the blast knocked both of the ninjas off of their feet and slammed them against the tree behind them, knocking them out.

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The blast blew Tenten and Mrs. Ishii down the stairs. Fortunately for Tenten, she had something soft to cushion her landing at the bottom of the stairs in the cellar. Unfortunately for Mrs. Ishii, that something was Mrs. Ishii.

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As Hinata sat up, she shook her head trying to clear the ringing from her ears. As her eyes were trying to come into focus, she heard a whispery sound of movement to her right. Realization of her situation became very clear to her as she finally recognized the webs all around her. She looked up and saw the opening of the pit was now completely absent of the protective bars that once covered it. Hinata reached down for her kunai, and found that they were missing. Somehow they were dislodged from the holder during the fall.

_"If you're waiting for someone to find you, then you might have a long wait," _Hinata mentally berated herself, _"or it could be a very short wait… if the pet finds you first."_

With that thought percolating thru her mind, Hinata began to feverishly search on her hands and knees for some type of weapon, even if it was a piece of the cage that might have fallen in with her. The faint whispery sound kept moving around her as she kept up her frenetic search.

Finally, her hands felt a cold bar on the floor, as the whispery sound stopped.

Hinata stood up with the bar in her hands, raising it up as if it was a metal club or some kind of magical talisman, as she looked around her.

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As Lee opened his eyes, he noticed that the whole world seemed to be spinning as he looked into the sky, while lying flat on his back. Slowly he sat up. It's at this time that he noticed the house seemed to be missing. He looked down and saw that he was still on the floor of the room that he was working in, but the rest of the house seemed to be missing.

_"The house went boom," _Lee thought as he looked around and saw what looked like pieces of the house lying all around him.

Lee slowly stood up as he felt his head clear. He took a quick assessment of himself and noticed that: one- he was not injured, two- that his clothes were still slightly wet and had a weird chemically like scent to it, and finally- there was some kind of static like electricity going on between the fingers of his hands.

_"We were attacked," _Lee thought as he looked at the total annihilation of the house. _"I better get some help,"_ he thought as he ran to Konoha to get help.

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Tenten slowly opened her eyes and noticed that she was at the foot of the cellar stairs. She looked up at what was left of the staircase and saw that the tunnel that she just fell down was collapsed all the way to the top to where the cellar door used to be.

_"How did I survive the fall?"_ Tenten thought as she looked around for Mrs. Ishii.

That's when she noticed that she was lying on top of Mrs. Ishii.

_"Eww,"_ Tenten thought as she noticed the condition of Mrs. Ishii, _"I didn't know a head could twist around that many times without the head popping off."_

Tenten look around the room and saw that the only things in the room were wall shelves that were stocked with jars of glowing green mushrooms that appeared to be growing out of a glowing green "mini wheat" like cereal. Strangely enough, it appeared that the only illumination in the room was being provided by the jars.

Unfortunately for Tenten, there didn't appear to be another exit out of the room, but she did find a small ventilation shaft (about five inches wide) that seemed to be still providing air to the room. As she looks up the shaft, she could not see any light, or end for that matter. It seemed to curve near the end, instead of going straight up.

_"I'm not fitting thru that anytime soon," _Tenten thought as she moved Mrs. Ishii's body and propped it against a wall and sat down next to it, _"only thing left to do is to wait and hope someone notices that I am missing and digs me out."_

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Hinata kept listening for any movement, but no sounds were forthcoming. Just as she was about to lower the bar because she figured that the pet must have escaped, she felt something stab her in the right shoulder and pour liquid fire into her body. If she wasn't so scared, her screams would have hurt her own ears.

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Mito felt herself being shaken awake by Kurenai. As she opened her eyes, she heard a scream in the distance. Quickly, she was on her feet and following Kurenai as they both ran to the source of the scream. They stopped at the edge of the pit and looked down to see the biggest spider that either of them had ever seen. It was standing over Hinata, who seemed to be passed out on the ground beneath the spider. Before the spider could even react to the two ninja, they had thrown enough kunai at the beast to make it look like a pin cushion.

"What was that thing?" Mito asked as she looked down at the dead spider.

"I don't know, but if you go find a rope, I will anchor it, while you climb down and fetch Hinata."

Mito didn't waste any time arguing, and ran off to find a rope while Kurenai stood guard.

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As Lee ran to the village, he began to notice a few strange things, like how everyone along the way seemed to be frozen. At first he thought that he was under some form of genjutsu, but he soon ruled that out, since even the birds and water droplets seemed frozen in time. After running around the village a few million times, searching for Gai-sensei, he noticed that people were slowly returning to normal. Eventually, he spotted his sensei standing over Sakura, as she was doing her sit-ups.

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Gai was standing over Sakura counting her sit-ups, when Lee suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Sensei, Pleasecomewithme. Theteamwasattacked, andweneedyourhelp," Lee blurted out.

"You need to breathe. Take a deep breath and calm down," Gai suggested as he grabbed Lee's shoulders. "Hmm, I have never seen your flames of youth burn so brightly before," Gai remarked as Lee tried with great effort to calm down.

"Please Sensei, come with me. The team was attacked and we need your help," Lee said with great effort, "I do not know where my other team mates are, but I thought you could come and assist me."

"Yes, let us go help the others," Gai said before quickly running towards the house of the scientist.

Despite the fact that Gai was running at his top speed, Lee was just walking fast to keep shoulder to shoulder with his sensei. Gai wasn't sure if he should be bothered by this yet but decided to ask Lee about his new ability the first chance that he could get.

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Mito returned to Kurenai with a rope just as Gai and Lee showed up.

"Gai, help us get Hinata out of…"Kurenai started to say before Lee interrupted her.

"I will do it," Lee said as he snatched the rope out of Mito's hands. Before anyone could blink, Lee had secured the rope at a nearby tree, climbed down the rope, made a harness with the rope, climbed out of the hole, and pulled Hinata out of the hole. "How is she?" Lee asked after he placed Hinata on the ground by Mito's feet.

"Whoa, you need to slow down," Mito suggested to Lee.

Kurenai just exchanged looks with Gai as she said, "Mito can you examine Hinata and Lee to see if there is anything wrong with them, while Gai and I will search for Tenten."

"I'll help," Lee offered.

"No, we can handle this. Just let Mito examine you," Gai ordered.

As the two senseis walked off to search for Tenten, Mito examined Hinata.

"Well it looks like we got there in time," Mito said, "The spider's venom doesn't appear to be having any lingering bad effect on her other than some possible mild paralysis that will wear off in time."

"Well that's good," Lee replied.

"But you… your chakra seems to be blazing hot," Mito stated as she looked at Lee. "You need to sit down and relax… no you need to meditate to center your chakra and try to gain some control over yourself before you burn yourself out," Mito ordered Lee as she forced him to sit down.

"But I never meditated before, Why should I start now?" Lee argued.

"Just shut up, and do as you're told, I'll show you how if you are willing?" Mito offered.

Lee looked over to where Hinata was lying and seeing nothing else to do, "If you do not mind?"

"No, I do not mind. What are friends for," Mito said with a smile, and then she began to give Lee a lesson in meditation techniques.

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Hours later after getting more help from the village, the search for Tenten was abandoned and she was declared missing in action. Mito and Naruto returned to their home after a long day of searching, and went to bed.


	7. Chapter 7 With Family like this

I do not own any of the characters in this story, nor this world where this story resides.

_Thoughts_

_(Authors notes)_

_**Thoughts of Demon/Inner Sakura (inner conversation)**_

**Demon/Inner Sakura speaks**

**With family like this…**

Chapter 7

_~That night~_

Hinata wakes up in a panic.

_"Where am I and why can't I move?"_ thought a scared Hinata, as she looked around the room.

"Relax, my name is Fumio, I am a medical-nin in the hospital. You were brought in by your friends today after being attacked by some creature," the medical-nin said in a calm and soothing manner. "I was told the paralysis is only temporary, and that you will be alright, so try to relax and get some sleep," he said as he checked her vitals, wrote them in her chart, and then left the room.

_"'Relax,' he says, yea like that's going to happen," _Hinata thought as she slowly drifted back to sleep.

_~Two days later~_

_"What's that sound," _a frightened Hinata thinks as she quickly opens her eyes and checks out her surroundings, _"Oh yea; I'm still in the hospital, in a bed." _

"Still looking for that spider," Mito said as she enters the room, "You don't have to worry about it anymore, its dead."

"T-T-That's easy for you to say, you weren't lying under it, like I was," Hinata countered, "I didn't pass out right away. At first I was just lying there paralyzed as it came crawling out of the shadows. Ugh, I can still see it standing over me and drooling."

"Well, it's gone now," Mito said as she walks over and takes Hinata's vitals.

"So why have y-you been visiting me so often," Hinata asked, "I mean, shouldn't you be on a mission or something?"

"Since I am a medic-nin, I work here as a D-level mission," Mito replied as she wrote something in Hinata's chart, "The Hokage wants me to keep up my skills by working here."

"B-but you're the only one who's been treating me."

"Well, they did let me get first crack at helping you, since I was the first to treat you. That and I don't have too many friends and I like to watch out for them," Mito said as she cracked her knuckles.

"A-a friend…?"

"Ok, I was hoping that we could be friends… especially if you're going to be stalking my brother Naruto."

"Eep, I didn't know that he was your brother. I-in fact I did not know Naruto had any siblings," Hinata squealed as she hid her blushing face with the sheet.

"We just found out recently… So… wanna be friends?"

"Well… I don't know. Be friends with Naruto's sister… Hmmm," Hinata pondered as she lowered the sheet and started tapped her chin with her index finger.

"Well don't do me any favors… See if anyone else visits you so often," Mito said with a pout.

"I don't mind the visits, but what are you doing working here?" Hinata sarcastically asked. "Aren't you just a genin?"

"Humph… People keep asking me that," Mito harrumphed. "I haven't heard anyone complain about me after I treated them."

"Maybe it's because… they're dead," Hinata retorted while Mito just laughed in response.

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_~Meanwhile at the Hyuuga estate~_

As Hyūga Hiashi is out for his morning stroll thru the gardens in the clan estate trying to think of a way to set aside his eldest daughter, Hinata, as the family heiress and replacing her with her younger sister, Hanabi, a group of Hyuuga (it can be spelled either way. Hyuuga or Hyūga) elders approached him. The one that appeared to be the spokesperson stepped forward to speak to him.

"Hiashi-san, the elders have been concerned lately about the fitness of your elder daughter as the heiress," the elderly man said, "Considering the latest incident, and your daughter's inability to overcome the simplest of obstacles, The clan elders have decided that your daughter should be set aside as heiress and your younger daughter be instated in her place. We also feel that she would not be fit for the Hyūga branch family, because being the previous heiress, might stir up resentment in the branch family and cause a civil war as people choose sides over which heiress to support. To prevent this, she would have to be completely expelled from the clan and declared dead. However, we feel it necessary to give her one more chance to prove herself to us thru a test of fitness in the ring of trials tonight. We further recommend that she be put against Neji, as he would be an impartial competitor."

Hiashi almost could not believe what he was hearing. _"It seems to be the will of the Kami that Hanabi be the heiress," _Hiashi thought as he restrained himself from doing a happy dance. "I will inform my daughter at once of the clan elders' decision," Hiashi said in as somber a tone that he could fake.

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_~Later at the hospital~_

As Mito is about to enter Hinata's room, the door suddenly opens to reveal Hiashi attempting to exit the room.

"Good, just the person I was hoping to find," Hiashi said to Mito.

"How may I be of assistance, Hiashi-san," Mito replied.

"When will my daughter be released and declared fit for service."

"If her progress continues as it has been, then I expect to release her sometime this evening and declare her fit for service tomorrow," Mito answered as she noticed that Hinata appeared to be trying to stare a hole into her sheets that she was grasping very tightly.

"She can't be declared fit for service today?"

"No, I feel one more nights rest would be the best course, why do you ask?"

"It is nothing. People of my clan were planning to have a ceremony for her tonight, but it can be put off until tomorrow. Thank you for your time," Hiashi said as he then brushed past her and walked away.

Mito entered the room and closed the door behind her.

"If you don't mind me asking, what was that about?" Mito asked as she approached Hinata.

"T-that was about my father finally getting his way. He came over to tell me that the clan elders want to replace me as clan heiress with my younger sister and that I will have to survive a trial of fitness, if I am to remain the heiress."

"So what happens if you fail?"

"That is what worries me. If I fail, I will be expelled, declared dead to the clan, and a modified caged bird seal will be placed upon me to prevent the clan secrets from being stolen by any enemies. I don't know what to do, if the seal is placed on me, I don't know how anyone will want to marry me or take me seriously as a ninja. This can place a terrible black mark on my reputation and career," Hinata said in a very emotional manner.

Mito stood there for a moment as if she was carrying on some type of internal conversation.

"I'll be right back Hinata," Mito said with a raised index finger. "I need to consult with the Hokage and come up with a plan," she said as she turned and left a distraught Hinata to her thoughts.

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_~The next morning~_

Hiashi is once again approached in the garden by the group of clan elders.

"Hiashi-san, is everything ready for tonight?" One of the elders asked.

"Everything is almost ready… I am just concerned that if the preparations are not to the clan elders' satisfaction that someone may try to besmirch my honor," Hiashi stated.

"We were concerned that you might think that one of the clan elders would try to undermine you, so we had a document made up stating that you have the elders' full support and that we will not question any of your decisions that you make to be fully prepared for this evening's event," the elder said as he handed a scroll to Hiashi.

"I think this will be most helpful," Hiashi replied as he glanced at the scroll in his hands.

"Of course, we will not be attending tonight you understand… we have other matters that needs our attention."

"Yes I understand. _I'm elated that you won't be there; you would have been just in the way._ Elders, thank you for your support and confidence," Hiashi said with a slight bow.

The elders merely returned the bow and walked away in silence, leaving Hiashi to his thoughts as he looked down at the scroll in his hands.

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_~Later that afternoon~_

Neji is walking to the branch family common building for a meal, (the branch family shares common areas [i.e.: kitchen, dining room, living room, recreation room, & etc]) from his room in the branch family residential building, (the branch family live in one barrack style type of building. Each person gets their own room, unless they are a married couple, than they share a room) when he meets Hiashi.

"Neji, I need to speak to you," Hiashi commands as he starts accompanying Neji to the common building. "Are you aware of the test of fitness that Hinata has to undergo this evening?"

"I heard a rumor that Hinata's position as heiress was being questioned, nothing else."

"The clan elders want her to undergo a test of fitness and they recommended that you be the one to go against her."

"I was not aware that I was chosen. _Yea, baby, payback. _Are you concerned about my professionalism," Neji asked with as straight and somber a tone that he could manage in order to hide his thoughts.

Hiashi kept silent as another main family member walked by and resumed talking when the member was out of hearing range.

"No, I am not concerned with your professionalism. _I just hope you don't look too obvious with your enthusiasm._ I just wanted to let you know that if you defeat Hinata that I, personally, will remove your cage seal."

"Why would you do this?"

"If you win, I feel that you will have displayed your fitness to become a member of the main family. I will place you in a leadership role over many of your present fellow branch family members as a reward for your service to the main family. All of this is conditioned on you having a decisive victory. Can you do this," Hiashi asked as he placed his hand on Neji's shoulder."

"Yes…but what about Hanabi?"

"Your sole duty in the main family will be to protect her, if any harm comes to her that causes her death or makes her incapable to rule, you will die. However, as a member of the main family… you will be entitled to all of the power and privileges of a main family member, as if you were my own son, all but the right to be an heir. Is this acceptable to you?"

"How can I trust you?"

"I already took the liberty of putting it all down in writing," Hiashi stated as he pulled out a scroll and presented it to Neji, "It already has my signature and seal, it only requires yours to make it official."

Neji doesn't say a word as he accepts the scroll, opens it, reads it and quickly signs it.

"No, you can keep that with you," Hiashi says with a raised hand as Neji tries to return it. "That way you can feel reassured that I will keep my agreement," Hiashi said as he turned and walked away. "I will see you again later tonight."

Neji merely stands there not knowing what to do, or how to react to his new fortune.

_"Hopefully, that removes a possible future threat to Hanabi,"_ Hiashi connives as he walks away, _"by allowing him to pour his vengeance on Hinata and tying his future to Hanabi's, hopefully he will be satisfied and not crave more power, and privilege."_

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_~Later that evening~_

_"What are they doing here?" _Hiashi thinks as he walks to the training dojo.

Hiashi had thought that everything was going too smoothly, when he was told that Hinata's guests had arrived. Hinata greeted them personally at the main gate and was escorting them to the training dojo.

As Hiashi entered the dojo, he saw Hinata waiting on one side of the ring with the Hokage, Mito, and Lee. While on the other side Neji stood alone.

Hiashi strolled over to the Hokage and bowed to him, which the Hokage returned.

"I didn't think an inter-clan matter would concern you, Hokage-sama," Hiashi casually replies after he bowed to the Hokage.

"Normally, I wouldn't concern myself with internal clan affairs, but I was invited and since the resolution of this trial will affect the security of the village, I decided to accept the invitation," the Hokage coolly answered.

"How would it affect the security of the village?" Hiashi asked with a feigned surprised expression.

"If a ninja is displaced from their clan, they would need to be place somewhere to prevent the village from losing a valuable asset. I wanted to be present to help me reach a decision in this matter, Will any of the elders be present," the Hokage asked as he looked around.

"No, they left the matter for me to resolve. They informed me that they had other matters to attend to. Why are the other two shinobi present?"

"Mito is present in her capacity as a medic-nin and Lee is here to assist her, if help is needed," the Hokage replied as he pointed to them with a wave of his open hand.

"If you will excuse me," Hiashi replied as he once again bowed and walked over to the center of the ring on the mat situated in the center of the dojo.

Hiashi motioned for the two contestants to enter the ring. Hinata and Neji entered the ring and faced each other.

"This bout is to decide whether Hinata is fit to be heiress of the Hyuuga clan," Hiashi explained in a monotone voice.

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As Hiashi explained the rules of the contest, Hinata's mind kept wandering.

_"Yea, yea… 'no ninjutsus or genjutsus will be allowed, will be a match of taijutsu skills alone', when did he become such a bore?" _Hinata thought as her mind wandered, _"I've been getting weird mental signals all morning. Hmm, it seems to have started last night. I've seemed to be getting these strange feelings of unease, almost as if I'm in danger somehow. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out what these feelings are or what is causing them. Oops, almost missed something… something about the contest continuing until one of us is knocked out of the ring or unable to continue or something like that. Well I better get my head in the fight, because it looks like it's about to start," _Hinata thought as she saw Hiashi motion for the two of them to begin.

Hinata quickly assumed her fighting stance, but as she did so, she noticed something strange about Neji.

_"What is he doing,"_ Hinata thought when she noticed that Neji did not assume a fighting stance but simply had walked part way to her, stopped and stood there with a creepy smirk on his face. _"Where did he go?"_ Hinata thought as Neji gradually, but completely disappeared.

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_"What in the world is he doing?"_ Mito thought as she watched Neji do some weird kind of subtle swaying side to side as he continued to slowly walk towards Hinata. Even Hinata seemed bewildered by his actions. She looked around and noticed that the Hokage was watching the battle with intent interest, while Lee looked just as confused as she felt.

_**"I'm not quite sure of what Neji is doing, but I think I might know,"**_ Akane mentally reported to Mito, "_**If Hinata doesn't hurry up and figure out what he is doing, this fight may end faster than you think."**_

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Instinctive warnings of danger were blaring in Hinata's mind, but she could not figure out what to do with the information. Hinata suddenly had the feeling that she should lean back to dodge something. As she did so, Neji suddenly appeared in front of her making a swipe to her face with his hand formed into a claw.

_"What the…?"_ Hinata thought as she saw the hand starting to come toward her face.

Another warning came screaming in her mind, but it happened too quickly to be helpful, as it occurred just before an explosion of pain exploded in her mind from her shattered kneecap that Neji had destroyed with a chakra enhanced punch.

Another warning came to mind that she needed to duck. This time she obeyed her instincts, as Neji tried to box both of her ears.

As Hinata was ducking, Neji suddenly grabbed her head, pulling it down to meet his rising knee and kneeing her in the nose.

More pain exploded in her mind, as she was trying to recover from the last blow.

While she was staggering from the busted nose, Neji boxed both of her ears, thereby breaking both of her eardrums and stunning her in the process.

While Hinata was swaying side to side, Neji did a round house kick to her face, knocking her out, as well as breaking her jaw in the process.

Hinata fell like a tree in a hurricane.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Mito quickly ran into the ring, just behind the Hokage, who had stepped in front of Neji, thereby stopping the fight.

"Is this how you expel your members from your clan? What's next… you want me to revive her so Neji can finish the job or are you finished? Just sentence her, so I can take her to the hospital," Mito yelled at Hiashi, who was just standing there watching everything.

Hiashi sauntered over and stood looking down at Hinata with a disgusted expression.

"She is from this moment on expelled from the Hyuuga clan, to be considered dead to us forevermore. Just get this disgusting specimen out of my sight," Hiashi said with a snarl as he walked away.

Mito nodded towards Lee, who came over, lifted Hinata up, and ran with her to the hospital. The Hokage walked over to Mito, placed his hand upon her shoulder, and with a nod of his head towards Hiashi, shushined both of them to the hospital.

"I never saw you use those techniques before, why now?" a bewildered Hiashi asked Neji as he walked over to him.

"I knew that we shared fighting styles, so I wanted to throw her off by using some techniques that I had learned recently when I was reading some old scrolls in the village library," Neji replied with a small smile, "So about the cage seal?"

"Yes, let's go take care of that right now," Hiashi answered as he started to walk towards the dojo's exit with Neji following behind him. _"I guess knowledge really is power," _Hiashi thought to himself with a chuckle.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

~At the Hospital~

As soon as the Hokage and Mito arrived, she quickly walked over to the gurney where Hinata was lying and began to help her.

"Do you think you will be able to help her?" the Hokage asked.

"Yes," Mito replied as she continued her work, "You will make her induction into my clan official?"

"Yes, I will make it official that she is to be considered part of the Senju clan, since you, as the clan's acting representative, accepted her into your clan. However, I am concerned about where she is to live."

"Oh, I already thought of that. She will share my room with me. Calm down Lee, and sit down, you look like you're about to faint," Mito said in Lee's direction, when he began to have a nosebleed over the news of Mito and Hinata sharing a bedroom.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

_~Present~_

It is another morning in Konoha and several teams are arriving at the academy to get their next assignment at the assignment desk. The Hokage seems bored as he mechanically hands each team's sensei their next assignment. A strange sight catches his eye (like a fishing hook), as his wandering thoughts catch up to a blast from the past that blows his mind.

_"If I did not know any better, I would have thought that I was seeing ghosts," _the Hokage thought as he watched team seven enter the room. _"Naruto_ (wearing a long sleeved blue uniform, a collarless blue jacket with orange trim, a white belt, and shinobi sandals) _and Mito are almost the spitting image of Obito and Rin."_

As Kakashi approaches the desk, the Hokage gives him a bewildered look as he motions with his eyes towards Naruto and Mito.

Kakashi merely rolls his eyes in answer as he asks for the team's next assignment.

"There is a D-ranked mission available in town," the Hokage suggests.

"Come on jiji… there has to be something more exciting than just a D-ranked mission. We've had way too many already!" Naruto loudly complains.

The Hokage watches the reactions of Naruto's other teammates, ranging from shock that Naruto would address the Hokage in such a manner (Mito), to annoyance that he is stuck with the dobe as a teammate (Sasuke).

"Naruto… the reason your team is assigned D-ranked missions is because your team is not ready for anything else yet. _I wonder if he has matured enough to be ready for a more dangerous mission yet,"_ the Hokage thought as he explains the mission rating and the mission selection system as they pertain to the shinobi ranking system to Naruto.

"I know all that jiji (he didn't, but he wouldn't admit it)," Naruto yells in exasperation as he interrupts the Hokage. "I'm not the loud-mouth dobe you think I am. I've gotten a lot better," Naruto grumbles with a pout as he sits down with his back turned to the Hokage.

The Hokage looks towards Kakashi for his reaction, which would be none at all to almost everyone in the room. However, the Hokage knows how to read Kakashi's minute reactions and notices that Kakashi agrees with Naruto, that team seven has been on too many D-ranked missions and they need something more strenuous to test their skills in order for them to mature as shinobi.

_"He has changed,"_ the Hokage thought as he was watching Naruto hunch over in frustration, _"He used to hide his feelings and tried to only get attention thru pranks… maybe…? _Alright, perhaps team seven is ready for a C-ranked mission," the Hokage grudgingly admits to the astonishment of his listeners. An escort mission came in that I want your team to handle," the Hokage said to Kakashi, as he motioned to a nearby ninja to have the client come into the room.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

_~Meanwhile back in Wonderland~_

Tenten, while every so often glancing at the empties on the floor, once again counts the jars of food that is left on the shelves.

"If hunger didn't drive me to eat this green glowing food, I never would have realized its hydration properties," Tenten said to no one in particular. "Well I have twenty jars left, if I pace myself," she said as she licked her fingers that she used to finish off the jar she is holding, "I can hold up for a little while, while I wait to be rescued. Now I feel like that I had forgotten something, what was it?"

_"Water"_

"Yes, that's right I've got to remember to save my water for when I have nothing else left to consume."

"_You could eat Mrs. Ishii," _Tenten thought as she argued with herself_._

"No, that wouldn't be right, she was a nice lady and that would be gross."

"_Not as gross as she will be once she really starts rotting."_

"Well, that's why I sealed her body away in a scroll."

"_Well, I think you'll change your mind once the food is all gone. How did __Shirō make it taste like sesame dumplings anyways? The mushrooms somehow just enhance the flavor."_

"Yes, you're right the food is delicious, so we don't have to decide on Mrs. Ishii right away."

"_We can't hold off on the decision forever," _Tenten thought as she continued her internal debate.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~(**.**}*{**.**)~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

_~Later in Mito and Hinata's room~_

"Thanks for helping me pack, Hinata," Mito said as she was packing her backpack, "You've been a great roommate this last week."

"I-I'm the one who should be thanking you," Hinata replied, "So tell me again where you guys are going?"

"It's just an escort mission to wave country. We shouldn't be gone long," Mito replied, "Just keep up the training Akane suggested to you regarding your newest skills. Since as the newest member of the Senju clan, she wanted to welcome you by making you the next avatar in this dimension. In case anything should happen to me that is."

"It's cool that we share this bloodline," Hinata blurted. "Don't worry nothing is going to happen to you, Naruto's right, you do worry too much. And yes, I will keep up with my training," Hinata relented when Mito started giving her a serious expression."

"So are your wrists still itching," Mito asked with a concerned expression.

"Don't worry, I said. It's probably nothing," Hinata replied as she covered the two red skin blemishes that was on her wrists, "Why can't I accompany you guys on your mission?"

"One- you're supposed to be still recovering from your injuries. Two- Just because I am very good at healing people, doesn't mean that I want everyone breaking down my door for my services," Mito said with a huff as she finished packing, "so stay hidden for at least one more week. I told everyone that you were not in the mood for company and that you were well stocked for food."

"Yes ma'am," Hinata sarcastically replied with a smart salute.

"Come on, you," Mito replied with a chuckle as she started pushing Hinata towards the door, "Let's go get something to eat."


End file.
